


Feral New Beginnings

by swindalynn



Series: Red Wonder [5]
Category: Batwoman (Comic), Wonder Woman (Comics)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Sequel, canon typical action, non-canon typical romance (ha!), playing with multiverse WW microcosms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:22:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23165431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swindalynn/pseuds/swindalynn
Summary: Sequel(kinda) to The Courtship of Kate Kane. Three years after returning to Themyscira with Oscar, Diana has been working hard to prepare Themyscira for integration into the world abroad and Kate couldn't be prouder. On the first day of the first amazonian summit with representatives from Bana Migdhall, Diana and Kate learn of a terrible betrayal from those they've trusted most, a secret ten years in the making, that leaves them both fools to everyone else's game. The revelation of which sparks them down a dark spiral more complicated than anyone can guess.To make matters worse, Donna Troy arrives on the island which concerning news of Beth's escape from the institution she'd sought asylum and her movements and actions, while seemingly random, are anything but to Diana and Kate.For the new goddess of magic, Circe, it's all a matter of pieces, playthings, and pawns, and all of hers are finally falling into place.10.19.20. Half epilogue was added a few days ago. the whole thing has been added now.
Relationships: Diana (Wonder Woman)/Kate Kane, Hippolyta/Philippus (Wonder Woman), and whoever strikes my fancy together honestly
Series: Red Wonder [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1150955
Comments: 18
Kudos: 12





	1. Moonlight in Alabaster

**The Alabaster, the Collective Unconscious  
Any year and _every_ year simultaneously**

A woman lounges on plush void of color and watches through the small window into the world, a rectangular viewing screen limited to the dimensions of a large portrait that now hangs in the prison beneath the Hall of Justice. In her hand, she holds a goblet of wine, as empty of coloring as her bedding and the rest of her surrounded, but thankfully, rich with the flavor of an aged Durif. Her name is Circe. She has been alive longer than any dare question and at least three decades longer than that. Inside her rests the soul of Hecate, finally complete. She watches through the only viewing screen that's allowed to her in the barren waste Wonder Woman trapped her, a prison she accepted to finally have all this magic coursing through her being in exchange for an isolated prison nowhere and no one on which to use it. Or so, she thought at the time. *

Diana did not tell her of the creature who was all teeth and venomous smiles who awaited on the other side, Hecate's dark shadow, her voracious brother of night. Circe still has the jagged scars of his bite at the juncture of her right shoulder where it leans into the curve of her neck. Her fingers trace it absentmindedly for the few seconds her mind wanders to her first fruitless days here before she shaped this colorless, featureless environment to her liking. Before this glamorous empty castle that changes with her whims and reflects her moods. 

He almost killed her, that beast, the Upside Down Man, almost consumed both her and Hecate's magic. And he would have if Circe hadn't begged for a deal. Circe almost spits the wine from the memory of begging. Never again. Never again to man. No, she thinks. Never again to anyone. She is Circe. She is the new goddess of magic. All should fear her. Most importantly of which, Wonder Woman should fear her. Darling Diana has no idea what she has done sending Circe here with all this magic with him. 

But she will soon enough.

In her window is an image of the earth, a smaller replica of the large mass she would be able to see looming in black sky above her if she only stepped aside. With a flick of her fingers as if manipulating a touch screen, she swipes right through a few other images of the same round, blue planet numbered and named for her own purposes, until she finds the one she seeks, K20.3 Kate, year 2020, v3. 

She locates the correct ocean and then zooms. The island comes into view larger and larger with each movement of her fingers until she can she can make out individual trees and each crest of surf that reaches for sand, until she can see Diana from above, staring at out into the ocean as if lost, as if something doesn't sit well inside her. 

Circle smiles and leans back, resting her head against a hand propped up by a bent elbow. 

-

**Themyscira, K20.3  
Present day**

There are no birds in the sky when Diana finds herself on the southeastern coast of Themyscira on the large volcanic rock on which she once watched Kate, still healing, try to skip flat chips of the black sedite rock over the blue ombre waves. The breeze has been absent all day and no seagull or black-tipped albatross wings can be seen for miles. The eerie stillness is almost alarming. Something is off in her world. It has been so for quite some time now. No, not just her world, not just in Themyscira. It's everywhere. Something is off everywhere both on island and off and it's stirring a paranoid dread in the pit of her stomach, especially today of all days. 

Later this day, representatives from Bana Migdhall are to arrive at the docks and the first amazonian summit is supposed to begin. The air on the island has been tense for weeks leading up to this day and if Diana has learned anything from her life thus far, it is that moments of high tension for events as important as this are when every awful unaccounted for decides to happen.

If something is wrong out there and if that something is powerful enough to threaten even here, then it would mean she would have to leave these shores again. Diana is not sure Themyscira could withstand another long absence from her, not now after all the hard work she's put in the last three years, not after all she's set into motion, not when the two amazonian nations are beginning such important talks. Diana swallows the sigh. She isn't even sure _she_ would withstand it. 

There is a soft rustling of leaves from the foliage beyond the sparkling white sand that catches her attention. She hears the arrow before she sees it, but sidesteps it easily, knocking it away with her left bracer, the gold of the guard on her hand glinting with the glare of the sun above. As the second arrow whizzes beneath her raised elbow, she catches it around the shaft with her right hand and spin on her heel to face the shrubbery, redirecting the arrow with her to neutralize its momentum. 

The bushes give a loud sigh as she considers the arrow in her hand and she can't help the defeated chuckle that escapes her. 

“It was an admirable effort, little dove,” she says, lifting her eyes to see her consort, Kate, and their daughter, Oscar, emerge from their hiding spot. The sight of them are enough to soothe and better her weary day. 

“This is all your fault, mom. You gave me away,” Oscar says to Kate, frowning. She slings the small bow she holds across her back as they make their way across the sand to Diana. 

Kate stops short in the sand to look down at Oscar, shouldering her own bow to cross her arms in playful offense. 

“Oh, it's my fault, is it?” she asks incredulously and casts a look at Diana while making an exaggerated gesture with her hands toward the back of Oscar's head. “Are you listening to this, Bat Charmer? Do you even hear the words coming out of your daughter's mouth right now?” 

With a soft laugh, Diana hops to the hot sand below just in time for Oscar to reach her and she places an affectionate hand on the top of Oscar's head, her dark waves capturing the heat of the sun between its wild strands.

“You know my stance on choosing sides,” she says and then looks down to greet Oscar. “Hello, little dove. You're getting better with that. We may need to have another a larger one made for you soon if you keep growing so quickly.” 

Her daughter looks up at her, beaming with overflowing pride and presses into her side. Oscar's small weight against her makes Diana's heart bubble inside and she marvels that she's had ten years to adjust but she still is so completely disarmed by the staggering love inside her. 

Kate pats Oscar's head with a heavy hand and musses up her hair even more, laughing when Oscar tries to swat her hand away. 

“Don't get too carried away there, beansprout. No matter what your mother says, that's Raedne's call,” she tells her, chuckling when Oscar misses her hand a few times. “Even if she is the Queen Heir Apparent.” 

Diana makes a face at the use of the formal title and says, “You are being facetious.” 

“No, I'm not.” Kate grins and tries to kiss Diana's frown away only succeeding in catching the corner of her lips when her wife turns her head in protest. “Stay still and let me kiss you, heir apparent.” 

Now Diana really frowns, but allows Kate's palm on her cheek draw her back and gingerly accepts the soft kisses. Below, Oscar makes a noise of disgust and detaches from her side and slips away before she can be crushed between them when Kate pulls her closer. She can feel Kate smile against her lips. 

“Oh, go on then. Go find Raedne and your brother, you little hellion,” Kate says, shooing Oscar off with a dismissive hand and a playfully pulling Diana closer to her possessively. “You can have your mother when I'm done with her.” 

Something Kate has said strikes Diana and she turns to look at her oblivious to her mild disappointment that Diana isn't playing along to further distress Oscar. Oscar makes a face and turns to sprint back toward the vegetation, leaving behind the disgusted sneer only a child can make. 

“I'm gonna tell him you two are being gross again.” 

“You don't think her disgust is real, do you? Am I traumatizing our child?” Kate says, pleased with herself as she leans back to watch Oscar disappear. Then she notices the look on Diana's face and her smile fades. Her free hand finds her hip and she grips Diana's waist with the other. “Hey, D. Are you okay?”

With a sigh, Diana shakes her head and draws away, taken a step back. She feels like the next breaths are suddenly too much to ask of her lungs and she needs the space to let them work. 

“Yes. It's just –. I thought I heard you mention her brother.” She pauses. Diana brings her fingertips to her forehead and forces herself to breathe. She's forced to glance up when she hears Kate's snicker.

“You want another one already?” Kate asks her through her laugh. “I mean, I wouldn't say no, but what'll you do with both me _and_ two mini me's running around. You barely suffer just me.” 

Diana forces the smile, but she knows Kate can see through its weak nature. Something isn't right. The way she'd heard Kate say it is still fresh in her mind and still feels like a truth her heart knows intimately, even though her rational mind knows it to be false. She can't shake the feeling. Kate swallows the light humor and gently pulls her tighter against her. 

“Sorry,” she says. “That was stupid and inconsiderate.” 

“It's all right, Kate. I'm all right.” 

A sharp pressure flares painfully just behind her eyes and Diana reaches up and pinches the bridge of her nose in an attempt to quell the slight flicker of irritation at it. She has never felt so disoriented or exhausted as she has been in the last month. She has never felt so easily crumbled at small personal woes before. Althea says it's merely the stress that comes with being the Queen Heir Apparent, but deep inside, Diana knows. Something is wrong and if she trusts her instincts as she should, she also knows that something isn't with her.

The events of this important day and the ill feeling in the pit of her stomach draw her shoulders heavy once more. She rests her head against Kate's shoulder and lets her eyes rest for a moment, enjoying the lingering fragrance of lavender still caught in Kate's hair and, beneath that, the undeniable scent of Kate, just Kate, and the smell sea and salt and sun that makes her feel like home. 

“Hey, you okay?” Kate asks her, moving her arm from her waist to her shoulders. She draws her back to the edge of the volcanic rock and sets them both down. “Hippolyta and Philippus still not budging on your proposal?” 

“They don't disagree,” Diana starts, but then pauses. “They're afraid our people aren't ready but they will not tell our sisters to let them decide from themselves if they are ready or not.” 

Kate sucks in a breath and leans back, placing her palms flat on the rock. Diana follows with her and her she can feel her nestle closer, readjusting the weight of her head against her shoulder. 

“You're proposing going out and finding women to bring back here, Diana.” 

“Yes,” Diana nods against her. “Women who have nowhere else to go and no one else to go to, girls without families to care for them, who have been told they are unwanted and unwelcomed everywhere else. We are mortal now, Kate. Themyscira will need new amazons for the first time since its creation.” 

“Yeah, true, true. I know, but it's not that easy,” Kate tells her. “When all is said and done though, Diana, what you're talking about is recruitment, but Themyscira is a recognized country now. A country's population can't be recruited. Not every one of the women you'll bring here that way will have what it takes to even be an amazon, let alone last through the training to become one. And once they're here, they won't be able to drop out or leave at the end of their contract. Themyscira isn't a military, Diana. You can't treat it like one.”

“If my sister's are not ready to allow for an influx of women, warriors or not, then they are not ready to face the alternative to my suggestion. We are mortal now..” A quick stab of irritation runs through Diana now and she has to reign it in before it spreads. She straightens and leans forward, fingers still pressed to her forehead. “No man has ever lived here, Kate...”

After a only a moment, Kate lets out something between a laugh and a cough when she realizes how Diana was going to finish that statement. She has to lean forward to let the laughter subside. She wipes her eyes and says, “Oh god, no. Your sisters could barely handle the few male diplomats who were here for two weeks for the Summit on rising Ocean levels. Bringing some to stay indefinitely for this little population problem would be utter chaos. I mean, your country's whole identity is kind of wrapped up in the idea of being without them.” 

“Yes, Kate. I am aware.”

Kate would normally laugh at the dry sarcasm in Diana's voice, but the gravity of the conversation suppresses the laugh to small chuckle. She pull Diana to her chest and leans back, taking her with her. 

“Hey, it's all right, bat charmer. Isn't that one of the reasons you pushed for this meeting with the Bana since it's an issue they've already had to deal with?” 

Her thumb find's Diana's chin and coaxes it up. Before Diana can answer her, a horn sounds in the distance and rattles a few birds from the trees. They both straighten and their eyes are drawn back to foliage that leads back to the city and the other side of the island where the ships are to dock.

“They're here,” Diana says, standing from where they sit. She offers Kate a hand, but her attention is still peering through the trees as if she can see through them to the docks. 

“They're early.”

Kate lets Diana pull her to her feet and scratches the back of her head with grumble while she feigns harmless disappointment. 

“Better early than never.” 

“No, better on time instead of right as I was making a move,” Kate says following Diana off the flattened volcanic rock to the sand below. “Their timing always was lousy, those Bana.” 

Over her shoulder, Diana tosses her the lightest nearly care-free grin she's seen touch her face in a long while. 

She says, “If that was you making a move, lovely, I would say you're a little rusty.” 

With a simple laugh trailing on the breeze, Diana is already gone, leaving Kate to stop dead in her tracks in the sand gaping after her. She charges forward into the tree line after her. 

“Ex _cuse_ me?” 

-

Oscar heard the brass call of the trumpeter broadcasted across the island at the same time her mothers did. She doesn't notice the way Raedne's eyebrows furrow only just as her hands, still clutching Oscar's training bow in her large hands, slightly lower. She'd been in the middle of inspecting it to assign a passing or failing grade to the level of care the little girl had been maintaining it. 

“What's that, Raedne?” Oscar asks her, taking a few steps toward the doorway of Raedne's small home. 

She'd only lived on the island for three short years and there was still a lot she was learning about life here on Themyscira. The way Raedne stands from her chair and steps by her, placing her bow back in her little hands catches Oscar off guard and she stumbles after her out the door into the rapidly fading sunlight. 

“It's the horn that announces arrivals. It has not sounded in hundreds of years,” Raedne says, a grin starting to form on her face. Something catches Raedne's attention and she glances to her right, takes in a lung full of air and shouts so loud it startles Oscar. “Atea! We have arrivals! The horn is announcing arrivals!” 

Kate winces and raises a hand to her ear as she joins them and says, “Yeah. I heard them too, Raedne. What did I tell you about inside-outside voices?” 

Raedne frowns. “I am outside.” 

“Okay, new definition,” Kate says. “Inside Themyscira and outside Themyscira. We're still inside Themyscira.” 

With a small huff, Raedne crosses her arms, but not before patting Oscar's shoulder and shooing her to Kate's side. 

“Take the little princess to the docks,” Raedne tells her, her voice gaining more authority than it had just moments again. “She should be present with her mother's mother to greet our wayward sisters.” 

Though Kate's bonding with Diana places her in a rank higher than Raedne, she is still relatively new to the tribe and until she has been assimilated seamlessly in the tribe's culture and politics, Raedne will retain a certain seniority over her. Every now and again, like now, Raedne will call Kate out of her place and smugly remind her of this fact and every time she does, it always makes Kate laugh. They both know no one can make Kate do something she doesn't want to do. Well, no one except Diana, maybe.

“Aye aye, Teach. We're goin', we're goin,” Kate says with a careless wave of her hand. She takes Oscar's hand. “C'mon, kiddo. Important political history's about to made. We don't wanna miss it.” 

-

Oscar will remember the sails of the large vessel that docked at Themyscira’s new harbor, that it was one of the largest she’d ever seen and was a pure white she thought impossible. She will remember the quiet of anticipation that ran through the Themysciran’s like a current, waiting to catch fire, but not knowing what kind of fire it would be.

She'd been looking forward to do this day since she can remember, had been far too curious for far too long about these other amazons than her mothers had been comfortable with, but she is too young to recognize that discomfort. She is too young to know exactly why it is the amazons of the independent city-state of Bana Migdhall are never discussed openly around her or wherever she might accidentally be in ear shot. Today, this curiosity will be put to rest. The Bana amazons are here and they'll be here for a few weeks. There will be plenty of people to whom Oscar will be able to ask all her questions and she cannot wait.

She can barely see through the crowd though, only catching sight of the tops of head dresses of the Bana as they emerge and begin to descend. Kate taps her shoulder to get her attention and leans over, grinning. Then she crouches low, indicating her shoulders with a soft nod of her head. Oscar fires back an nearly identical grin and uses her mom’s thigh to hoist herself up, situating herself on Kate’s shoulders. She grips Kate’s hands tight to anchor herself before Kate swiftly stands, lifting her high above the crowd.

Finally, Oscar is able to get a good look at the Bana. They are exotic and beautiful, most of them bearing tan skin richer and warmer than the Themysciran’s while a few others are still unusually fair. They are more racially diverse as well, something little Oscar finds particularly fascinating.

They are dressed in garments and adornments that looked as if they came straight out of the story Arabian Nights and their the designs and motifs of their armor matched the gold embroidery. As the neat line of Bana come to where Diana and Hippolyta stand, they break formation, moving to the sides to make room for what Oscar assumes is their queen sandwiched in the middle.

Oscar watches her mother carefully now, trying to gauge her reaction, trying to understand how she should receive these guests later when it is her turn to be introduced.

Diana’s face is passive and impartial in the way it usually is when she is performing some royal duty. Then Oscar sees her mothers eyebrows furrow before her expression becomes something she has never seen grace her face, something of mixed emotions Oscar is too young to fathom and are barely contained. The way her mother’s gaze is fixed so steadily and how her lips tremble just slightly alarms Oscar. She’s never seen her mother look like this.

She turns her gaze to find what has affected her mother so badly. What she sees, standing before Diana and Hippolyta is the queen of Bana Mighdall, a woman named Emira. She is tall and well-muscled, but still lean with low-in-fat, protein-lean diet of their environment. Her skin is rich earthenware, a warm brown tinted with hues of warm red, but her eyes are as dark as a starless night. 

Standing before her is a child similar in age to Oscar. Despite the half shaved asymmetrical hair cut coming to a loose braid that settles over their shoulder and the lovely tanned skin, Oscar can see the similarity immediately.

This child, with their bright sunset hair, and their and evergreen eyes, looks just like her mom, the one on whose shoulder’s she now sits.

A small hush rushes through the crowd of Themysciran’s and Oscar is all too wary of Kate swaying beneath her as she tries to get a better look.

“What’s up, bean sprout?” She asks. “What’s happening?”

Oscar hesitates, watching Diana begin to take a step forward before she stops herself and straightens, forcing the emotion from her face, but Oscar knows, even though she can’t see them, that her hands are in tight fists by her sides, probably trembling and it has something to do with why that Bana child looks like Kate. 

“Um, mom?” Oscar says, leaning over to catch Kate’s eye. “I think... I think mother might need you...”

She doesn’t have time to register the alarm on her mom’s face because Kate is already moving, gripping her ankles to keep her aloft. Oscar has to clasp her hands around Kate’s forehead to keep steady as Kate pushes through the crowd, sweeping her right along with her. The Themysciran’s only have to glance at her before they duck out of her way, making sure to turn their gazes elsewhere as if in collective shame. When Kate finally breaks through the crowd, she freezes, her shoulders stiffening and her grip around Oscar’s ankles tightening. 

She is a statue, standing completely still, staring at a child whose features she knows so well. Her voice catches painfully in her throat. She swallows and then raises her gaze to Emira who meets her gaze with unflinching steadiness and who holds the red-haired child still by her side with a hand on their slim shoulders.

Oscar wobbles slightly on her perch when Kate’s head snaps to Hippolyta and Philippus, both of them surprised when her eyes fall on them cold and accusing. It takes all her self-restraint to keep the tap she gives Oscar's knee soft and unthreatening. After all, it's not Oscar her anger is directed toward. Oscar takes the cue and places all her weight on one hand fast against Kate's shoulder so she can pull her eg free, the other hand gripping Kate's hand as an anchor to swing around Kate to her side when she pushes herself off her shoulders. 

She ushers Oscar along. It does not matter to whom right now, any Themysciran would step up to that responsibility, she knows, but part of her is relieved to Derinoe take her to a safe distance to the edge of the crowd where Anaea and Orithia await. 

When she is able to move freely, Kate grits her teeth and says, “You told us she was dead.”

Hippolyta holds the same stoic expression as Emira. She does not look away. She does not back down. She does not offer apologies or regrets. But it is Philippus who answers her accusations. When Hippolyta places her hand on her arm to stop her, she merely covers it with her own. It is the first time Philippus has denied her compliance where all Themyscian eyes can see. 

“We told you what would hurt the least,” Philippus says.

“That's bullshit, Philippus, and you know it.”

Diana recognizes the way Philippus' eyes narrow, expression hardening as she stands her ground when Kate takes a step forward and knows nothing good can come of this. She can feel Kate's anger radiating through their ephemeral bond like hungry flames just waiting for the chance to inferno. The fury is so palpable she can almost hear it words. 

_Again. It's happened again. Someone I trusted, someone I should have been able to trust to tell me, has kept something like this from me. It's happened all over again. **_

She reaches over and grips Kate's shoulder, leaning into her before she comes to in front of her. As if sensing the same of Philippus, Hippolyta mirror's her and the two of them, mother and daughter, come face to face in the space of between their chosen hearts before words or actions they will only live to regret are exchanged. 

In the cool gaze of her mother, Diana's own anger rises, tickled into life and encouraged by Kate's she still tries to soothe through their intimate connection. They are both infuriated and hurt beyond what can be placed into words. It's only Oscar's voice calling tentatively behind them that anchors them in place. Diana's eyes close for a moment to indulge in her daughter's sharp, distinct presence, to calm her ire, but another presence invades her moment of indulgence. It's the steady hum of the other child, the little red-head with the evergreen eyes.

The child'sskin catches the young moonlight despite its tan and Diana can swear she sees the alabaster in it. So much like Kate's. Diana slides her hand down the length of Kate's arm and links their fingers. She reaches out her hand in the empty space blindly behind her, and takes comfort when Oscar's little hand takes it. The touch of her family centers her and helps her steady her words.

“Not now, Kate,” she whispers, pulling Oscar around her to sandwich her between them. “Not here.”

Diana casts a look to Hippolyta Oscar has never seen grace her face, one of a betrayal and an anger that has simmered so long, she’d never known it was there. It frightens her and makes her wary of upsetting her lest that anger explode. She watches as all of that carefully controlled anger is wrapped up in quiet hurt when Diana's eyes finally come back to the child who holds Emira's hand. It’s the first time Oscar has ever been afraid to ask for her mother’s attention, so instead, she tugs on Kate’s sleeve.

“What’s going on, mom?” she asks, half hiding behind her parents and peering across the way at the little red-head who only watches her with an unnerving calm. “Who is that?”

Kate swallows hard and grits her teeth She looks down at her daughter and draws in a breath before she drops to her knee and places her hands heavy on Oscar’s shoulders. 

“She's your sister, Oscar,” Kate says, trying to smooth the sharp edges of her voice.

Oscar looks at the girl and despite her familiar features from her mom and the calm demeanor of her mother, she finds only a stranger looking back.

Continued...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I reference a lot of canon from all over the place, but I also make up a lot of shit, so I've decided to list in these chapter notes, which canon references I made and where you can find them so you know what's real and what's, y'know, my BS. They're noted with asterisks. Or you can skip the end notes all together. That's cool too. 
> 
> * **Justice League Dark (2016) #19** , The Witching War Finale, Jan. 29, 2020. To be collected in Justice League Dark vol 3 The Witching War Trade Paperback, May 6, 2020.
> 
> ** **Batwoman New 52 (2011) #0** , Sept 19, 2012. Collected in Batwoman New 52 vol 3 World's Finest.  
> – This #0 should not be confused with the first Batwoman #0 which was published on Nov 24, 2010. ...actually, either way, it works the same for the purposes of this story.


	2. Moonlight in Alabaster pt 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I don't post this right now, it won't be posted. So. That's how it is.

**Themyscira**

The Bana child with the rust-colored hair watches from the other end of the dock where she can still feel the spray of sea water from the small waves that crash against the wood postings. She is called Ariadne*, Ari for short. While it's still a name, it's used to denote a status more so than an identity. Ari is not really a Bana and is not really a Themysciran, instead being caught in the uneasy in between. With a gentle hand on her shoulder, Emira moves Ari to her side where she is silently handed off to her teacher and trainer, Artemis, who quietly pulls her closer to her. 

“Stay by her side, Artemis,” Emira says with her low contralto voice, smooth and confident. “Do not leave it until this initial talk is over.”

Ari can feel Artemis bristle only slightly at the command through the firm hand Artemis has lain on her shoulder. She tilts her head up to look at her teacher, the only one of the Bana who treated her as if she were one of them and had always been so.

“They're the ones who discarded her,” Artemis says beneath her breath, eyes cast in the direction of the Themysciran royal court who stand a little ways away, judging each woman before moving on to the next. “And now they want her back? Ridiculous.” 

The small turn of Emira's head is subtle, but sharp enough to both Ari and Artemis, that they both straighten beneath her sidelong glance. Emira's eyes are stoic but not cold. She affords Ari only a quick glance before she returns her attention to Artemis. 

“Whether they want her back or not is not for a _dayie_ to judge. You should know that better than most,” she says. 

Ari feels Artemis stiffen behind her. She can feel a shame creep through her, one that makes her feel like she shouldn't have heard these words from Emira spoken to Artemis. Like maybe she's intruding on something kind of private. She can feel Artemis snake her hand across her chest until she can draw Ari closer to her with the full weight of her forearm, quietly, protectively almost. When she speaks her voice is low and respectful.

“Forgive me, Emira- _wasi_.”

Emira acknowledges the apology with a nod of her head and pulls her gaze from the two of them back to the Themysciran's who watch them carefully. 

“Your arm, _tifi_ ,” she says quietly before she takes the first step toward the confrontation that awaits her. 

Artemis retracts her forearm from around Ari's chest. At the show of humility, something in Ari's chest constricts, like it does right before her throat tightens and her eyes blur. She feels ashamed, but she doesn't know why yet. If Emira sees her shame, she ignores it and approaches the Themysciran queen and her family. She exchanges a silent look with the Themysciran queen and queen consort who only nod their acknowledgement before she steps passed them to stand before the two mothers Ari has been told are hers, but who don't recognize her. The red one, the fiery one named Kate, straightens to look at her. Emira considers Kate as a whole. 

“Let us answer your questions where little ears cannot hear,” Emira says with a small glance over Kate's shoulder to Oscar. “I'll take your judgement then.”

The moment that passes between them is charged. Then, nearly as quickly as it happened, the situation fizzles out to a low simmer. Emira returns to the Themysciran queen and the small group of amazons breaks up to follow both sovereigns. Ari doesn't miss the last look Kate gives her but she's too young to understand all the conflict in it. There is hurt and caution, but also hope and dread. Ari freezes, feeling pinned. 

Ari doesn't know what is said but she sees Emira glances back over her shoulder at her and Artemis before she takes a step to the side, the heavy half cape hanging over her left shoulder sweeping back with her. She doesn't know how to describe how the Themysciran royal family approaches her. It is cautiously, as if sudden movement would scare either her or them. When they are still a respectable distance away, Artemis intercepts them, coming to half stand between them and Ari. The smile Diana gives her is weighted, but sincere, nearly confused itself what it means to convey.

“Artemis, sister, you've changed quite a bit,” Diana says to her. “How long has it been?”

Artemis shrugs, keeping eye contact but titling her chin lower in acknowledgment of Diana's new position in her tribe.

“A decade at least, if these two are any indication,” Artemis says, indicating Oscar and Ari with a quick nod of her head. “Diana, you must understand. It was forbidden to tell you. I was not allowed.”

Ari is fascinated to see Artemis falter. She has never seen her do so in front of anyone who isn't Emira. She is even more fascinated when Diana's hand comes to Artemis' shoulder, at the quiet hurt that touches both her eyes and her voice, when she gives the smallest shake of her head. 

“I understand enough to know I cannot fault you without faulting myself. It's all, right, Artemis.” 

So much heavy regret on both sides. Ari feels like she's drowning in it.

“I'm sorry.” Artemis lowers her head only just. With a twitch of ire and soft grit of her teeth, she adds, “And to you too, Kate.” 

The sweeping anger Kate had earlier when she arrived is still stewing quietly inside her and she affords Artemis a mere glance of acknowledgment mixed with distaste. Did these two meet before? Ari wonders. And did they not get along? 

“Can we met her?” 

The stilted way the words come from Kate makes it clear that she's chosen them carefully and that she is not particularly used to having to do so. Her cheek gives a small ripple with all that she holds in.

Artemis shifts her weight and looks down at Ari, the question remaining unspoken in her eye. There are too many strong emotions hanging tangled in the air and Ari doesn't know which ones are hers yet and which ones are not. Emira once warned her of latching onto the strongest or steadiest feeling without verifying whose it was and what their purposes were, that bad people would try to control her this way, but this is the first time in her nine years that she has faced so many conflicting feelings from so many people whose intentions she couldn't read. She steps back and then shakes her head. Artemis accepts her refusal by coming in front of her completely. 

“Later, when she has had a moment to rest,” Artemis says for her. “And perhaps individually...”

Ari feels the disappointment that's swallowed, but breathes a little easier. Some of the other Bana have called her a weak child, especially when large groups so easily overwhelm her, but she is nothing but grateful when she watches Emira and the Themysciran queen guide the small family of three down the docks toward the path that leads to the palace. 

Without protest, Artemis and Ari fall in line behind them. There are a few carriage-like vehicles waiting to take them to the palace lined up at the end the pier and up the unforgiving slope. Despite the anxious cloud that looms around the Themyscian royal family that tells her they want to, not one of them dares to look back at her. No one, except the little princess, that is. 

Oscar lags behind a few steps from her mothers and then lags a few more steps until she falls in by Ari's other side. For a few minutes, she merely walks with them in silence. Curiously, Ari tries to sneak a glance at her just in time to see Artemis angle her head downward at her. The smile Oscar gives her is confident and brave. Ari turns away, looking for something on the ground more interesting. It earns her a small laugh that makes Ari look her away again. 

Then, with a small wave goodbye, Oscar breaks formation and jogs to catch up with her mothers, sandwiching herself in between them. Ari watches as they both look down at her, at the way Kate pats her head and Diana casually fixes the small bow still slung across her back, moving it to a less awkward angle that doesn't make the end smack against the back of her legs. She wonders if this is what mothers do, constantly touch their children. 

“What?” she hears Oscar say a little too loudly. “I didn't say anything. I didn't actually meet her!' 

-

Ari walks the stone streets that lead from the town square to the practice fields. It was still too early for the welcome festivities to begin and Ari and Artemis found themselves with a few hours to kill. She is still thinking about earlier that day, about the small exchange that Artemis had with Kate and Diana and has been drilling Artemis with all the questions she has whenever they pop into her head and Artemis humors her as they walk. 

“You've met them before?” Ari asks, watching the pathway and carefully stepping between the cracks made by the individual bricks, balancing on the ball of her sandaled feet. 

“Before you were born, yes.” Artemis tells her, pausing in her tracks to watch Ari stumble slightly and waver before regaining her balance. “Back when she was just the princess, I was conceited enough to think myself your amazon mother's rival. She always made sure I knew otherwise.” 

“You weren't friends?” 

“I wouldn't say we were friends, exactly.” 

“If you weren't friends, what were you?” 

“Things were complicated.” The way Artemis has to consider how to answer this question concerns Ari some and she holds her tongue as they continue down the path. “I am Bana. She is Themysciran. I am a _tifi dayie_ like you. She was their princess. She was their Wonder Woman, not just here, but out there in the world of men, as well. I never made it to _Shim'tar_. Our tribes were fighting, then merging, then fighting again. We were friendly, though, but not friends.” **

“Oh.” Ari only nods, trying to imagine a younger Artemis who matched this description. “It looked like she thought you were friends.” 

Artemis scoffs lightly, a little insincerely, and says, “Diana always thinks everyone can be her friend.” 

“So you still can't be friends now?” 

“You should know you are a lot like her in some ways,” Artemis says, lifting a hand to her forehead to will away the small developing headache. “You are too keen on words. It drives me crazy about you both.”

Now Ari shrugs, not wanting to upset her teacher by doing the exact thing she just complained about, but thinking about a lot of the things Artemis mentioned. Did those differences between Artemis and Diana mean they couldn't be friends then? Did those same differences mean that she and Oscar couldn't be friends? Did it really matter if Oscar is a princess? She decides she wants to think a little more on these things and starts to ask another question instead. 

“What about the other one? The...” she asks and pauses just before the next word before continuing. “My _ariadne_ mother?” 

Artemis lets out a haughty but amused huff of a laugh. 

“We are most definitely not friends.”

The use of the word _ariadne_ feels surreal to say to Ari, not only because of its personal use where she herself is concerned, but also with the sheer context of the conversation. In her nine years, she has never had a mother, nor anyone remotely like one. Though she cares for her, Emira has made it very clear just in her behavior and mannerisms that she is not Ari's mother, nor does she view herself as one. Because of this the Bana have made no official claim on Ari, which is why she has a status and not a name. 

Ariadne is the term the Bana-Migdhall amazons use to refer to an outsider, to someone who does not belong. Both Artemis and Ari came to the tribe without a name, too young to remember it. They were children from the outside world, _tifi dayie_ – lost children, not citizens but wards, and Emira was not their queen but their _wasi_ , their caretaker. Artemis had been named upon her entry into the tribe when she was fourteen and it had been Hippolyta who'd named her. But that is a story that Artemis has not yet told Ari.

She stops on the stone she'd just gained her balance on after a hop and then straightens, lowering herself flat on her feet regardless of her heels crossing a crack. _Why don't I have a name, Artemis?_ She wants to ask this, but doesn't. She already knows the answer. What use is it to ask it? Ari remains unclaimed by either tribe, existing nameless and without identity in the gray seas that lay between. 

Before anything else can be said, Artemis quietly grabs her attention, nodding forward to the large Banyan tree just a few hundred feet away.

The roots of the tree are expansive and large, resting above the ground and creeping across the aged stone path, breaking up the fitted stone as if to swallow them whole. So this is why the Themyscirans were adamant the visiting Bana understood this was a foot path only and all wagons and transport were to take another route. 

Beneath the canopy of the large tree is the queen heir apparent, Diana, and her daughter, Oscar. Oscar is perched on the uneven surface of one of the larger roots, balancing on slippery sandals, with her little hands lifted into fists. She is striking punches into the soft flesh of Diana's palms while Diana moves about her, moving her palms in rhythm to her movements. 

“Does your wrist wish you to break it?” the tall amazon asks her. “Keep hitting like that and you will break it.” 

Oscar huffs for a minute, breathing harder, and crouches lower, aiming higher than Diana's hands. It only takes one confident lift of Diana's chin for Oscar to miss completely, lose her balance in the process, and then topple over on to the hard-packed earth at her mother's feet. 

With a wince, Oscar pushes herself up and then raises her knees where the bark of the roots had scraped off the first layer of skin. Hot tears prick at her eyes. Ari can feel the frustration with herself for falling

“Ow.” She is frowning and inspecting the skinned knee. 

“Can you stand, Oscar?” Diana asks her, but does not kneel to her level. “Does it hurt that much?” 

With a small scoff of pride, Oscar launches herself to her feet, despite the small prickle of tears at the corner of her eye. Ari can tell. It hurts worse than she'll let on. 

“No. Doesn't hurt at all,” Oscar says with the innocent grin of a child. She bends her wounded knee and sniffles a few times. “See?” 

Ari is surprised to see the look of displeasure on Diana's face and somewhere inside her, a small indignation raises to match the one that flares in Oscar. She is being brave and strong. She's being admirable, like an amazon. Isn't that good enough for her mother? What else could Diana want from her? The small feeling of camaraderie that bubbles inside Ari is striking and seizing and she starts for the mother-daughter pair before Artemis's hand reaches out and snatches her by the sleeve. 

Without a word, she draws Ari back and nods silently toward Diana and Oscar. _Wait._ The look says. _Watch._

With a swift, nearly graceful movement, Diana finally comes down to her knee and covers Oscar's wound with her palm. The girl winces and jumps back, only to knock herself against the raised root she'd been balancing on earlier. She cries out in surprise at the sudden dull pain the contact makes on her back and winces again, this time the tears caught at the corner of her eyes now beginning to fall. 

Diana remains where she kneels, only pulling back her hands to rest them on the thigh of her lowered knee. 

“That hurt!” Oscar shouts, eyeing her mother. 

She is hurt more than just her back and her knee. Her pride is hurt. She'd wanted her mother's approval. She'd wanted her mother to be proud of her bravery. Then, she'd wanted her mother's care and concern. She received none of those things and she is upset because she doesn't understand why.

“Of course it hurt,” Diana tells her, voice low and smooth. “Are you angry?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Because it hurt or because I hurt you?” 

Oscar makes a face but doesn't answer. 

“Both, then?” 

A fierce nod. She wipes her eyes. She doesn't understand why her mother won't just console her. 

“Come here, little dove,” Diana says. She waits patiently until Oscar limps back over and then lifts her hands, palm out, holding them higher than usual, as if hiding behind them. “Lift your fists and continue.” 

Now, Oscar's chest heaves with tears that her pride refuses to let her shed. She practices her form again, throwing punch after punch into Diana's palms over and over again. Diana corrects her with each strike, her voice becoming more stern with each correction. Feet beneath your shoulders, Oscar. Straighten the line of your fist. Hit with the first two knuckles. No, stop. Bend your wounded knee properly. Good. Now, do it again. 

Everything Oscar holds in right now threatens to leak from her eyes with salty tears. She would tell you that she is not crying, but she is. She would tell you that it's a trick of the light, but it's not. Oscar strikes her mother's palms and cries. Ari feels her own little heart breaking for Oscar who can't let her hurt show, not right now, not in front of her mother. Silently, Artemis lays a hand on Ari's shoulder to keep her still.

Finally, when Oscar hides her hurt away behind anger, she stops listening to her mother. She tightens her fists and grits her teeth, bends her skinned knee too much, puts her weight on the wrong foot. Her punches are desperate now and Diana still does not stop. 

“Again, Oscar,” she says, stern and serious, watching carefully, hands still so high, half her face is covered. “Remember your form and do it again.”

Oscar is so angry now that she tightens up, pulls her fists in close to her chest, and digs her feet into the ground. She throws all she has into this punch, aligning her wrist in a straight line between her forearm and first knuckles perfectly, so her mother will have nothing to complain about now. She wants her mother to stop. She wants her mother to stop being her teacher right now and be her mother. She wants her mother to make it stop hurting. 

Neither Oscar nor Ari are prepared when Diana drops her hand and lets Oscar's fist connect with her cheek. Because she is still so small, Oscar's punch does little against her mother's jaw. It feels like everything in her arm threatens to shatter but doesn't and immediately, she feels shredded skin of her knuckles and the sharp pain of compression on her wrist. Her whole hand pulses in pain with her heartbeat. 

Now Oscar does cry aloud, crumpling to the ground, holding her hand. She hisses loudly when the exposed, bleeding flesh of her knee comes in contact with the dirt. Ari watches dumbfounded. She feels the change in Diana before Oscar can hear it in her mother's voice. Diana comes to sit beside Oscar.

“Does it hurt now, little dove?” she asks her softly.

When Oscar is too emotional, she loses her words. She gives a bitter little nod. Diana has learned to ask questions that can be answered with short nods and shakes of her head. She is careful not to coddle her, not yet. There is still a teaching that must yet be done. 

“This is what it means to fight, Oscar. It means that it hurts,” Diana says now, gently combing her fingers through the curls and waves of dark hair. “It hurts to defend yourself from an attack, it hurts to take the hit from the tree roots when you're blown back, and it hurts to hit someone. It will always hurt and it will always hurt on both sides.”

Oscar wipes the drying tears from her cheeks and frowns, eyebrows furrowing as she listens. She gives a faint nod. Diana finally eases her into an embrace, pulling her to sit on her lap. 

“This is why we train as hard as we do. This is why fighting is always our last option.” Diana tells her. “We cannot know the out come, the consequences, or if it is even the right thing to do before or during. This mutual hurt is the only certainty that comes with a fight. Do you understand, my love?” 

Oscar gives another faint nod and all Ari can do is stand still and watch. 

-

**Gotham**

Beneath the drumming rain, Donna Troy moves with the grace of gods in her muscles, chasing after her good friends, the original boys of Gotham, Nightwing and Red Hood. They have something to show her in Robinson Park, they said in their communication. Where Diana lost the glow, Red Hood clarified. She knows what he's referring to. He's talking about the Golden Perfect now looped at her side. He's talking where the two of them fought with Diana and Batwoman that night years ago when Diana lost the Perfect. The boys have always been keen and observant. One can't fight alongside Batman and not be, she supposes. Their concern is enough to bring her across the country to Gotham.

Since Diana's return to Themyscira three years ago, she has taken on the title Wonder Woman*** and all the tools and responsibility that comes with it, but she would be lying if she says she's used to it. She's not and she doesn't know if she ever will be, but she will not stop. 

If there is one thing both she and Diana have learned in the past few years, it's that the world needs Wonder Woman. It will always need Wonder Woman, but Wonder Woman will not always need Diana. Later, perhaps, it will need Diana again and much later, it might even need Cassie, but right now, it needs Donna, and she will not abandon it. 

She doesn't mean to land so hard between Nightwing and Red Hood, but neither of the boys seem to notice it. Nightwing offers her a hand to help her from her crouch and she offers an appreciative smile when she takes it. Always the gentleman, Dick. 

“I don't know what it means or if it means anything at all, but it definitely means something,” Red Hood says, walking off toward the direction where a few bushes had once lined the walkway. Three newly planted small trees just barely out of sapling stage stand side by side, upturned soil circled off by a small wall of layered white brick. “We were hoping maybe you might know?” 

Red Hood waves her around behind the middle one and points with a finger. At first, Donna doesn't see it. It's cleverly hidden, affecting its immediate surrounding to go unnoticed. Now that it has been pointed out to her, she cannot unsee it. There is a small mark, a symbol, almost branded into the wood of the tree, one full circle and two nearly complete ones on either side of it. Upon closer examination, even with the rain, Donna swears she can almost see the mark give off the tiniest whiff of smoke, as if it is still being branded as they speak, but slowly and incrementally. 

“Any ideas?” Nightwing asks, coming to stand beside her. 

“It's the triple moons.” Donna nods, lifting a hand to run a finger over each circle as she points it out. “One waxing, one full, and one waning. It's the mark of Hecate.” 

“The goddess of witchcraft?” 

“Former goddess of witchcraft,” Donna corrects, still inspecting. “I thought she was dead.” 

When she retrieves her hand, she notices how the surrounding wood not only feels off, but even looks off, unreal even, like she were looking at an image of it painting loosely on the surface of puddle and her very breath would make the image disperse and dissolve. She steps back now, looking for the edges of the unseen puddle and trying to keep her eyes unfocused enough to even see the puddle at all, to see without seeing, like one of those famous optical illusions that are always rediscovered by a new generation every decade or so.

The anomaly is large, encompassing the entire tree, and reaching out to the other two, but stops just short of swallowing them completely. She observes it a few minutes longer, trying to cast it in concrete in her memory. 

“Who found it?” she asks, straightening now and pulling her attention from the anomaly to look at them.

“Well, believe it or not, Harley Quinn,” Red Hood tells her and she can hear the shrug in his voice. He gives his head a small shake to fight off the sheeting of rain that nearly cascades down the sides of his helmet. “You just had to show up in uniform, didn't you? Just had to make me get dressed in this rain.” 

“My guess is that it was Poison Ivy who tipped her,” Nightwing says, folding his arms. “Harley's just the one who approached us. Well, him, anyway.” 

He shifts only enough to toss a thumb toward Red Hood, but Donna is too lost in thought to humor them. 

“Whaddya think it means, Donna?” 

She frowns now and finally the rain running down the soaked hair framing her face also runs into her eye and she blinks and wipes it away, only to free it up for more. It's late, it's wet, and she's being flying half the night already. 

“I don't know, Hood I don't have any answers right now,” she says, her voice coming out with tired gravel. “But I think I know where to start looking.” 

-

 **The Alabaster**

Circe moves from one room of her self-made palace into another, listening to the voice that speaks only in her ear. The palace is cold and drafty and all she really wants to do right now soak in a tub or warm water. She's grown bored with watching, but she can't afford to miss too much now that she's set the wheels in motion, so she drags her portrait-sized window through the rooms with her. 

“I barely finished before that plant woman was on me.”

“Who cares if Ivy chanced upon you,” Circe asks, lightly tugging at the loose tie that cinches her robe shut. “You got the sample and left the mark. What else matters?”

“Aren't you supposed to be some powerful witch? The least you could do is get me some kind of perception filter while I'm completing this little scavenger hunt of yours.”

“I could, sure,” Circe says, finally coming to a room where an unblemished porcelain tub has been conjured and is nearing just the right amount of full. With a flick of a few fingers, the faucet shuts off. “But as I am here and you are there, it would involve some incantation on your end and we both know you are probably not the best with tricksy magic that might turn you into a sow were it to backfire.” 

“So much for being the new goddess of magic, Cirs.” 

Circe frowns now. It's that tone. She doesn't like it. And she doesn't like the shortening of her name like that either. She lets the robe slip off her shoulders and fall to the ground now, before she steps into the tub.

“You're boring me. I hate being bored,” she says, pinching the bridge of her nose as she leans back. “Do you have access to the next location or not?” 

“There's no place in Gotham I won't have access to if I put my mind to it.” There's a small cackle of a laugh now. “Have to admit though. It's a little messed up, traipsing down my sister's life like this. I've already got head crackers trying to figure out me and Beth. What more fun could it be having all of us mixed up in this noggin?” 

Circe's hand drops with some force into the water and makes a splash that is louder than she intended. Her voice picks up a backbone and her eyes narrow with her impatience. 

“I can easily replace you if you aren't up to the task, Alice.” 

A small flicker of static blends with Alice's high-pitched laugh and it grates on Circe's nerves, threatening a migraine. 

“Relax, witch queen. I've got it covered.”

Continued…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't do proper citations, but here's where these were taken. 
> 
> * George Perez's run, murderer of Antiope who led a band of amazons off Themyscira to seek revenge against Hercules, Theseus, and a lot of other dudes. This band later settled in the desert and became the Bana-Migdhall tribe. Hatred of Ariadne was so strong, her name because a curse and then a derogatory term for outsider. 
> 
> ** All this stuff, give or take, happened in multiple runs in the 80s-90s, including runs from George Perez, John Byrne, and William Messner-Loebs, but mostly through Messner-Loebs' run, but I left it vague enough to allow events from Rucka's mid-2000s run and Lobdell's Red Hood series' and for whatever else I've made up. Artemis is a last minute character swap-in, the missing piece I didn't know I needed until nearly too late. I have yet to decide how closely to any canon I want to stick with concerning her. 
> 
> *** Donna took up the mantle of Wonder Woman once after Infinite Crisis when Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman all took a year off from superheroing in '05/'06. The storyline 52, takes place during this year. Donna kicking ass and being awesome as Wonder Woman is shown during Gail Simone's run which you should read anyway if you haven't.
> 
> Alice is, well, I'm pretty much making everything up with Alice for the purposes of this particular universe, so as is the case with Artemis, characterization will arguably be off.


	3. The Rotting Underneath

Kate needs space. She needs to be away from the three woman, the three queens, who stand before her in the otherwise vacant war room. War room. Ha. When was the last time Themysciran’s waged war? She stops herself. Blinks. She’s being easily distracted because she the topic on hand is too much and too little all at the same time and she has too many questions, but not enough spring to mind all at the same time as well. She closes her eyes and breathes, forcing herself to see through the initial anger to what lies behind.

Diana had taken Oscar away somewhere else twenty minutes ago and though she’s not physically present in the room with her, Kate can still feel her through the bond that bounds them. She gives a small request to Diana through the bond that connects them, gathering the particles of love that exist as an invisible tether between them and condensing them into a small stroke. The request is small and she likes that it is nonverbal, that she doesn’t have to place it into words. 

Almost instantly, she feels Diana’s response. It feels like a steady vibration on a low frequency, a nudge of solidarity. Kate closes her eyes and allows herself the time to feel it. I’m here, it says. I’ve got you. You can do this. The older she gets, the more impatient she becomes it seems, but her time with Diana has taught her a thing or do about diplomacy if not patience. 

“Okay, so let me get this right so far,” she says when she’s ready and her eyes are open once more. She settles her gaze on Emira as calmly as she can. “Cameron Chase approached the Bana first, not the other way around and talked you up into some paranoia that Themyscira was going to, I dunno, ‘come out’ or something to the world and if they did that, it would put your people in danger somehow. Supposedly.”

“It will endanger the Bana if Themyscira steps into the world by itself,” Emira tells her. 

With a wave of her hand, Kate dismisses this new line of questions Emira’s comment produces and forces herself to remain on topic, on finding out how her and Diana’s supposedly dead infant wound up somehow alive and in Emira’s care.

“Right, that’s part of the reason why this summit is taking place, I get that. That doesn’t explain how ...” Kate pauses, not knowing how to refer to the little red headed child who looked so much like her sister, Beth. She sighs now. “Just tell me what I want to know.” 

The look Emira gives Hippolyta and Philippus now immediately makes Kate weary. There is a shared dishonor in it, the camaraderie of mutual sin but weighted down even more with mistrust. Kate gets the feeling that the complete answer to this question would also force Emira into admitted things she would rather not. Kate recognizes the way Hippolyta gazes back at Emira. She has only seen it grace her face in the last three years whenever Diana proposes yet another idea the Themysciran’s find hard to swallow.

Finally, Emira unclips the half-cape attached to her right shoulder guard and Hippolyta motions an attendant with a flick of her hand to take it from her. Then, leaning against the large centered table littered with maps, Emira crosses her arms. The hair on the left side of her face is pulled back into small tight braids that run over the curve of her ear where they meet an elaborate gold ornament that pinches the braids closed before letting the res of her hair flow freely, dangling over her lean shoulder. 

“We Bana aren’t like the Themyscirans. We age and die just like everyone else who lives off this island.” Emira says now, carefully. “Our home isn't hidden by magic or mysticism. It can be easily accessed if one knows where to look, so we have made it a mission to ensure the world never finds out how to look.” 

Kate tries to contain her frustrated sigh and crosses her own arms now. 

“Okay, I'll bite,” she says, shifting her weight from one leg to the other. “How do you make sure of that?” 

It's Hippolyta who answers now, surprising both Kate and Emira who turn to look at her. Hippolyta still wears her look of disapproval as she takes a step closer.

“They are spies for hire, Kate.”

“The war they wage now is of information and intelligence,” Philippus continues for Hippolyta. “They offer their services to the highest bidder and sell what they know to others.”

“They have no loyalties but to themselves,” Hippolyta finishes. 

Emira nearly scoffs and says, “Says the woman who gave me her grand child without telling that child's mothers.”

There is a flare of something sharp in Hippolyta's eyes, but it is Philippus who steps forward, beginning to defend their decision. She barely gets any words out before Hippolyta takes hold of her wrist to stop her, fingers encircling the silver guard she wears. Philippus bites her tongue. The three monarchs seem to have forgotten Kate is with them and the air is heavy with all the things Kate can see they dare not say. 

“You sent one of ours and a spy from the outside world to my daughter's home when she was still with child to demand that she give up that child,” Hippolyta tells her. “When that failed and Alkyone was no longer alive for you to use, you brought the Cameron Chase woman to my home to demand my daughter's second child since you could not acquire her first.” 

“But you're the one who handed her to her!” 

Kate's hand comes down on the war table hard enough to startle the others, putting her full attention on Hippolyta. She can no longer hide the hurt that hid behind the anger, but now that she knows that it is hurt she is feeling, she can't keep it all in anymore. 

“She was never ill, was she? She never actually had to see Althea at all, did she?” Kate asks, trying to keep her voice steady but failing. “You lied to us and you took her and then you lied to us again and you gave her away. All this time, Hippolyta. All this time, you let us believe… For fuck's sake, Hippolyta, you came to her funeral. You brought us her ashes.”

Philippus is beside her now, quietly speaking as she touches Kate's shoulder. Kate wills herself immune to the touch.

“We were on the brink of another amazon war, Kate,” Philippus says. “But this time, there are world killers now that will annihilate our island in one blow and render it lifeless for centuries. Emira has made it no secret that the Bana are in possession of such weapons.” 

“But I don't understand,” Kate says, shaking her head and pulling away from her. “What does that have to do with a child? What does any of that have to do with a child? She was just a baby, Philippus.”

There is no warmth in Hippolyta's voice now when she answers and it almost makes Kate wince. 

“She was a truce. It was the only way Emira could see Themysciran and Bana returning to being one people.” There is now warmth in Hippolyta's voice and it almost makes Kate wince. “When she grew up, she could challenge her sister for the throne.”

There are prickles of the beginnings of tears in Kate's eyes. She hates that it's Hippolyta and Philippus who are the ones who did this to both her and Diana. From the beginning, they had always supported Kate, made her feel welcomed, even when Kate had resigned to give up. They had always been the ones who saw more in her at Diana's side than even Kate and Diana did at times. 

Diana was wrong, Kate thinks. She can't do this. She doesn't know how to handle this. Not anymore. Back when she was Batwoman, she didn't trust anyone. People left, that was what they did, and she was okay with that. She knew how to handle that, but she doesn't anymore now. Has she changed that much? Has this time on Themsycira made her so weak? So vulnerable to betrayal? A surprising, but unsetting feeling pushes itself to the forefront. For the first time in a very long while, Kate wants to be Batwoman. No, not want. Needs. Kate needs to. She needs Batwoman back.

The air around her vibrates with a hum only she can hear, but Kate is in the midst of spiraling thoughts, but it's all too much for Kate. It's almost like she slams her heart shut or like she pinches the bond the closed maybe. Kate doesn't know how she managed to do it, only that she managed. She blocked Diana through the bond. 

“You can't do that,” Kate says, almost through her teeth. “You can't just play with people's lives like that. You should have told me. You should have told us.” 

Hippolyta says, “I could not afford the risk of you tracking her down and violating the truce, Kate.” 

Kate's head snaps upward and she looks at Hippolyta with such judgment. Hippolyta doesn't whither beneath her stare, but her shoulders round and her expression softens. She lifts a hand to touch Kate's shoulder, but Kate knocks her hand away and steps back. 

“Stay away from me. Stay away from my family,” she says and then looks at each woman in turn, coldly. She takes a few steps backward, still glaring at them. 

After five steps, she spins on her heel and marches out of the war room, unblocking the bond, and tugging sharply on it. Diana is slow to reply and Kate can feel her alarm and her worry creeping across the tether. They needed to talk. Kate needed to calm down. Something needs to happen. Someone needs to do something. 

Kate would take Oscar away from here, back to Gotham, back to where Batwoman is and all that she'd given up to be here and be betrayed. They already took one child from her, dammit. Like hell Kate was going to let them take both.

-

She is following the invisible particles of the bond blindly, too swamped by her own thoughts to feel anything Diana sends through it. After a few tries, Diana stops. Kate is grateful. It's been a long time since she's had her walls up, especially with Diana, but they are all she has to stop her from overreacting, from behaving badly. She needs time to process, but she also knows, considering the way she was the last time her family saw her, she needs to check in with them first. 

By the time Kate makes it to the ancient banyan, she has calmed down enough to reassure Oscar and promise Diana a talk later, but then she sees Artemis with them and everything snaps back tight around her again. Of all the people in all of Bana-Migdall it had to be this one. Kate knows Diana and Oscar are just around the massive roots, probably just out of her sight, and it bothers her that Artemis might have been watching them from afar. Why? To what end? Why had she been looking for Diana at all? 

All the alarms in her are blaring. She doesn't trust any of these Bana. 

“What are you doing?” she asks, curtly, because she's unable to offer anything else right now with her walls up.

She asks Artemis this before she notices the small child by her side, the little redhead who looks so much like Beth and Sir, only bronzed from the desert sun, but with Diana's deep ocean eyes. With a small cocking of her head, Artemis spies her from the corner of her eye and then lowers her head slightly to let out the smallest smile that rubs Kate the wrong way. 

“Oh, right. You two have bonded. Of course, you'd know where she is,” she says, beneath her breath, before she faces her completely. Her hand rests on Ari's shoulder. “She's ready to meet if you are.” 

Everything in Kate stops. Her anger at the two amazon queens and their inhuman deal, the incessant wanting for Batwoman and Gotham, the long-buried hurt she'd carried since this child's funeral, and even Diana's presence felt through the bond. All of it stops. Kate's eye falls to girl who so bravely and without so much a second glance back to Artemis takes a step closer to her and offers a little hand. 

“Hello,” she says. She sounds so much like Beth. “It's nice to meet you.” 

Kate lowers herself to a knee to be closer to eye-level with her. She offers a smile and doesn't bother to hide the way her eyes well up. She takes the hand offered her and shakes it. Kate's heart beats and then overflows. 

“Hey there. It's good to meet you too.” She sees how the girl observes her cautiously. “I'm Kate. What's your name?” 

“She doesn't –,” Artemis starts.

The girl interrupts her, shaking Kate's hand firmer now, before letting it go.

“I don't really like I'm called.”

Kate catches the small flicker of Artemis' eyebrow at this and gives herself a few seconds to process. Over Ari's head completely, the looks Artemis gives her is hard to decipher. 

“All right,” Kate says with a nod, returning her focus on Ari. “Since this is our first time meeting, you can pick a name you do like. What would you like to be called.” 

The surprise she sees in the girl's eyes is humorous in a heartbreaking kind of way, like she hadn't known names could be so simple, like making them so was too scary a prospect. She marvels when she sees how the girl swallows down that fear.

“What would you have named me?”

Kate glances at Artemis who only stares back at her, offering nothing. She'd wondered, but the question makes it clear she already knows about her and Diana. Kate furrows her eyebrows, trying to ponder out the different ways answering could play out, but she's can't. Her heart's too caught up in it to see this situation clearly. This is their first meeting, after all, and she wants it to be a genuine one full of honesty and feeling, 

“Gabrielle,” she tells Ari. “We wanted to name you Gabrielle. After my mother.” 

There is a staunched silence while Ari ponders this, one long enough for Artemis to step forward to touch Ari's shoulders in a gesture that says that's enough now. Don't force yourself any further. It's a strange thing to see her do and to witness the way it seems to fill Ari with some relief. There's a curious mixture of emotion in Kate at this. A bittersweetness almost, a small bit of jealousy, a smidge of the earlier indignation that it is Artemis of all people. Kate pushes herself up from the ground now and wipes the particles of dirt from her knee. 

“Right then. Oscar and Diana are just around the corner there,” she says. “Want to go meet them?” 

A firm, determined expression becomes of Ari's face now. She doesn't have to voice her thoughts for Kate to know them. She doesn't really want to. Something's holding her back. There is something about Kate that makes her feel safer to Ari that Diana doesn't have. Or maybe, it's something Diana has that makes her more intimidating. The thought makes her sad, that Ari doesn't even know enough about Diana as Wonder Woman to feel that instant love and connection so many others not related to her did.

“Hey, it's okay if you don't.” 

Without another word, Kate can see her steel herself before rounding the corner and leaving them behind. Artemis moves to follow, but Kate grabs her elbow, a move that makes Artemis stop to glance at it, before setting her gaze on Kate. If she's offended, Kate can't apologize. After that talk with the queens, she knows she has the tact of a horsefly right now. Artemis tenses and then pulls her elbow free, waiting for her to say something equally offensive, maybe.

“What is it about me?” Kate asks. “What makes me more comfortable to her than Diana and Oscar?” 

Artemis lets out a small huff, impressed almost, like she hadn't expected Kate to be so perceptive. Kate would be offended, but Diana will notice Ari approaching soon and she has no time to indulge in her own reactions anymore. She has to make this quick.

“Isn't it obvious?” Artemis asks and Kate stills her tongue to listen. 

-

When Kate stopped responding through the bond, it took Diana a moment to realize what this sudden slight loneliness was. Somehow, Kate had blocked the bond. Diana hadn't known that was possible until now and she hadn't known that it would feel this distant. She'd forgotten what that felt like, to be separate and untouchable. 

Oscar pulls herself from her arms and turns a shoulder to her, quickly wiping at her eyes and Diana knows that she's detected the presence of the two who have been watching. She watches Oscar trying to erase all indication of any pesky tears and part of her finds it endearing. She can imagine Kate doing much of the same when she was her age, refusing to admit a hurt or a defeat. The other part of her is worried. It is the part of her that has always wanted Kate to know that tears and hurting were never a sign of weakness. It's a subtle part of her mission to the world that has always been one of the hardest to convey. If an enemy can hurt, then an enemy can love and if they can love, Oscar, are they really so different from me and you? 

She feels through this concern for Oscar at the same time she feels through her concern for Kate. The large angry spike she'd felt before Kate shut her out worries her. She's never felt such a surge of anger from her since their bonding, but she'd always known what level of anger Kate's hurt could bring her to. And beneath all this, Diana sorts through her own hurt. Kate found a way to shut her out again, despite the constant connection the bond promised them. Kate blocked her out. 

She is feeling and processing all of this at once while she reaches over and combs fingers through Oscar's dark hair, smiles while she helps her wipe away the remnants of her tears. It is an ability she lost that year she spent giftless, this capacity to feel so much and still tend to immediate affairs and immediate people. It is not compartmentalizing, because that is something she had to learn to do while giftless. 

“Come on, little dove. Let's see to that knee,” she says, standing from the ground. 

Kate finally lets her back in at this moment and there is an assault of overwhelming bittersweetness from her, love and envy and hurt all rolled up in one. The flood makes Diana pause. Sometimes, Kate's emotions are so strong, even she has to take a moment to feel through them. What else has happened to make you go from that frightening anger to this, Kate? She wonders. 

Diana feels Oscar patting her side and glances down at her, but Oscar is looking forward and she has adopted the stoic face that says something she inherited from Kate. Diana follows her gaze to see Ari approaching them with Kate and Artemis coming quickly around the root a few feet behind her. So, this is what happened. Diana catches Kate eye for just a moment and then feels the shiver of her uncertainty through the bond. Kate flicks the bond again in warning. Look at her. Look at her face. Be careful. 

She doesn't know what the warning means until she notices the expression on the little girl's face. She is grimacing. She is full of dread. Her face says she doesn't want to do this even though she's making herself do it. Diana doesn't know if it's her heartbreak she feels or Kate's.

Ari stops just feet from them and Oscar's stepped forward, shoving her hand out with a grin. 

“I'm Oscar. What's your name?” 

The girl makes a troubled face for a second but then hides it well. She carefully takes Oscar's hand. 

“Ari,” she says. “Ariadne.” 

Diana's eyes flash open and she looks at Kate. Of course, Diana. She should have thought of this. She should have known. No wonder she is so hesitant to meet them. To this child, they are amazons and she is not. Diana doesn't know if it's her heart breaking she feels or Kate's. 

Continued...

-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story has developed to the point where it is no longer a shipfic, so I'm pulling out of archive. I'll be focusing on original work and developing a personal website to host that work. I don't think I'll be able to finish this story because of that. The following chapter is a break down and detailed plot summary of how this story was going to develop and how it was going to end as a thank you/apology for any who had wanted to read the rest of it.


	4. The Story Stumbles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A break down and detailed plot summary of how the rest of this story would have gone.

**Chapter 4**

Festivities start amidst the political tension between the tribes and interpersonal tension between the characters. Oscar and Ari bond a little over some silly games, either ones Oscar learned off island or Ari learned in Bana-Migdall.

Kate keeps pushing back this promised talk with Diana about everything that makes Diana feel more distanced from her. She wants to touch base with Kate about what happened when she talked with them before Hippolyta and Philippus sit her down for a talk. 

Diana, dealing with the damage Ari's branding as an ariadne has done to their possible relationship even before they met. Ari is nine, practically has it branded onto her to be cautious around amazons, Bana and Themysciran alike. The word and concept of “mother” has no real bearing on this for her yet. Oscar, bless her, is kind of oblivious to this and just wants to play with another child. Kate is oscillating between wanting to support Diana through this tough summit (while avoiding deeper conversation she isn't ready to have yet) and wanting to be Batwoman again.

Possible Summit Topics:  
\- Presenting as a united Amazonian front to the world abroad for global political situations  
-Nuclear weapons – Themyscira: Nay  
Bana: Yay (for defense and offense)  
\- Global warming – Themyscira: Highly concerned (rising ocean levels, ocean ecological health, etc)  
Bana – Meh on ocean health, concerned for draught and farming conditions  
\- Economics – Bana concerned that Themyscira has no means of making money to support itself in a global environment and they don't want to bear that weight alone. Etc etc.

Meanwhile, Donna catches Alice in the old Gotham apartment (now leased/owned/whatever by another couple completely), leaving the mark of Hecate's triple moons on the tile of the kitchen where she remembers Diana's losing the Perfect. Figures out that whatever Alice is up to, it has something to do with places significant to Kate and Diana. 

**Chapter 5**

Hippolyta and Philippus sit Diana down for that talk about the summit progress before she's able to talk with Kate. It does not go terribly well. 

Kate and Artemis remember when they first met. There was a slight rivalry between them, but Artemis would never label it as a romantic one over Diana, even though Kate would, and that's one of their many disagreements. Maybe once upon a time, it might have been a crush on Artemis' side. 

Donna arrives – “Yeah, so, hey. Something weird's going on with your sister Kate, so, I'm gonna have to borrow you. Oh, hey there. Right. First amazonian summit was happening this week. Right…”

Kate's like, Oh shit. Heck yeah, I need to go… but are you going to be okay here, Diana? Diana's reaction is complicated. 

Kate and Diana finally talk. Becomes emotionally charged. Kate points out that she gave up everything to be here with Diana, that maybe she needs Batwoman more than she realized, and that she, truly and honestly speaking? She doesn't think she wants to stay here anymore because want the amazons fucking with her kids anymore. So, now shit's falling apart because two days ago, they'd been fine and happy, right? Right? 

They decide to separate. For now. So Kate can investigate this thing about Alice with Donna. Diana will stay here and continue doing what she needs to do for Themyscira and amazons in general to form a new globally recognized country. Kate offers to take Ari with her. “We're Ariadne, aren't we? Then let's go be ariadne away from here.” Ari agrees. 

Oscar has to choose between Diana and Themyscira or Kate and Gotham. Oscar decides to stay. 

Regardless of the short term verbal agreement, both Kate and Diana know this separation isn't going to be short at all.

**Chapter 6**

Five years later. 

Ari, 14 now, is developing a superhero identity and is experimenting with going by Gabriel now and but likes the masculine form of it over the feminine Gabrielle. Possible gender fluidity exploration to be had with Gabriel. ← Scrap if the actual writing can't effectively be convincing on the name change and gender fluid developments EDIT: Let me explain this some. I want Gabriel to have a complicated relationship with pronouns. "He" is perfectly fine to them if they're in Gotham and with friends. "She" is perfectly fine to them if they're with Oscar, Diana, and amazons. Because of the specific meaning of "sister". Sister is synonymous with citizen. Gabriel still wants to be an amazon. I don't think Gabriel really has a preference, just doesn't really feel all one way or another. How to -write- that with clarity in the prose though... I haven't figured that out yet. 

The Alice case with Donna has grown cold. They'd successfully hunted Alice down to a small garden behind a hotel where Kate and Diana were first reunited when fighting for Gotham after No Man's Land (Through Moments, chapter 4). Alice has disappeared and has not been active since. 

Gabriel is astute and clever and reminds Kate a lot of Diana. She's making friends with other teenage superheroes maybe. Gabriel inherited amazonian strengths. Kate has asked Cassie and Donna for assistance in this area. Cassie's kind of taken to Gabriel because they both know Artemis. 

Kate has blocked the bond for the last three years. Travels now and again to different sports of possible significant to her and Diana to look for Alice/more Hecate moons, but the constant reminders of the relationship do little to help with moving on. Could be considered something that keeps her moving on maybe. 

The first amazonian nation makes international headline and Diana's face is everywhere. As the new ambassador(?) who is still remembered to be Wonder Woman. Donna tried to warn Kate it was happening that year. There is no signs or mentions of Bana-Migdall.

Conversation between Donna and Kate about all this and where Kate's at in all of this and then what she plans to do about it. 

“About what?” 

“Diana's coming here, Kate, for that super important some kind of meeting between the US and Themsycira whatnot happening in a couple months. And she's bringing Oscar.” 

Kate: Well, shit. 

**Chapter 7**

So here's what's Circe's been doing. In her boredom in her self-created Alabaster kingdom (queendom? Witch-dom?), Circe's has a lot of time to think and remember and this is what she remembers. 

She remembers Hecate's last words before Circe accepted her soul and Hecate's body turned to cinder, that her soul is on loan, kinda sorta, and Hecate will reclaim it when she finds an appropriate body. She thought little of it and just did her magic witch thing on the isle of Aeaea for thousands of years. Until she felt the magic splinter almost one stormy night (the night Diana is born). Just a hiccup, she thinks. No big deal. Except each year the magic wavers more and more, drawn outward toward the sea to an island Circe barely finds with her magic, and to a young princess of amazons. Well, shit. So. Not so not big of a deal, then. This child could undo her. This child could end her. She'll just have to end her first.  
But how? How to touch the amazon princess? The magic of the olympian gods that protect Themyscira also keep Circe out. How to get to her? 

Ah. She'll have to make the princess leave. But how does she do that? 

Ares hijacks an American soldier and sends him with a plane to drop a bomb on Themyscira (Perez origin) and that whole thing with this unconscious soldier sparks Diana's departure. Just two years after she leaves Themyscira, Diana finds her way to Aeaea where she and Circe meet for the first time. Circe remembers this meeting and how she almost reduced Diana to the clay she was made of. 

Then she remembers more recently when she was first banished to this realm by Diana with all of Hecate's powers finally reunited within her. The Upside-down Man and her make a deal. He showed her how to not just look into the otherworld, but informed her that that, like anything else, is construct susceptible to magic which gets Circe thinking.

How can she be rid of Diana for good? 

So, Circe starts experimenting. 

Her experiments result in a multitude of side worlds, bubble worlds that are self-contained. Different outcomes with different versions of Diana in different relationships with different people, or in no relationships with any people, all trying to find out what combination of elements would break Diana completely. Because the only way Diana stops being Wonder Woman (the version of her that stops Circe at every turn) is if she chooses to stop. There just isn't any other way. 

We learn that Circe caused Kate and Diana to meet. She is the one who sent the owl to catch Diana's attention that cold New York night that led her to the shitty dive where she met Kate (Through Moments, chapter 1). And Circe's like, “Didn't plan on that happening.” To her surprise, they keep meeting and they keep happening and they just keep on keeping on. (Through Moments was supposed to establish that Diana's had this attraction from the start, but never did anything about it because every time she met Kate afterward, Kate was dating someone else. This is an attraction Diana would never have developed if Circe had not sent that owl). 

So, Circe's thinking: How shitty would it be for Diana to go through all this trouble and heartache and hard work for an unlikely relationship just to find out none of it was actually real? 

This chapter also reveals that the scene where Donna first shows up with Nightwing and Red Hood is another universe completely, the “original” universe (what is constituted as comic canon atm). Diana's been missing four three years. That's why Donna's Wonder Woman now and Donna's been looking for her. But Hecate's moons are popping up in a lot of weird ass places in Gotham and what the heck is Alice up to? In this reality, she seeks out Kate who is still Batwoman, who has never started a relationship with Diana, and who is still doing her Batwoman thing which is good because Donna has just tracked Alice to an apartment that she didn't know was Kate's until Kate interrupts their fight. 

Chapter ends with Kate like, “WTF is going on here. What does that symbol mean? And why is Wonder Woman after my sister???” 

BTW, once branded in one universe, the symbol appears in the same place in all universes.

-

**Chapter 8**

Back in Red Wonder universe, K20v3 (ah remember that?). It's five years later and Kate and Gabriel are dressed to the nines. They're about to meet Diana and Oscar again after five years. 

Oscar (15) has not inherited any amazonian abilities and it strikes Gabriel, maybe inspires, that she still considers herself amazonian and no one questions it. They hit it off stupidly well largely due to Oscar's infectious combination of Kate's devastating extroverted charm coupled with Diana's overwhelming love and acceptance. Gabriel had no chance. 

A lot of strained, emotionally heavy initial meetings and conversation amongst a suffocatingly conservative fancy-schmancy political party setting. Bruce is in attendance and so is Lois who is covering the event (Clark is her plus one). 

We learn the results of the summit that happened in the first few chapters. The Bana and Themyscirans decided that the Themysciran's could go ahead and go public as long as they agreed to keep Bana-Migdall a secret and to let them continue operating in secret. The Themysciran visibility gives the Bana operations some legitimacy. Before, they would not disclose who they were working for and refused to align with any known global power. Themyscira is granted special privileges to the intelligence they gather, which has helped them navigate smoothly their political reveal. 

With Bana connections, they have connections to economic operations independent of Bana operations. Essentially, they are united in many ways but maintain relative independence of each other as long as Themyscira helps to hide Bana-Migdhall's existence. A strange, but mutually beneficial relationship (?)

Both Kate and Diana notice several individuals who are probably spies from some organization or government scattered through the crowd, one of the reasons Bruce and the Batfamily are here, what with all the Checkmate and Leviathan stuff that's happened. Kate notices Artemis in the crowds as well. Of course, the Bana would have their own operatives. 

Gabriel seeks out Artemis, but doesn't catch her. Kate asks Diana if they can meet outside this party, the four of them, privately, asks if that's all right. Diana smiles and says she'd like to.

**Chapter 9**

Next day. Dinner date? Day-time excursion? Kate and Gabriel bring Diana and Oscar into their world of night time vigilantism? 

Some less emotionally heavy conversation, maybe some light-hearted banter. For a moment, it feels like maybe they could get back together. 

Kate updates Diana on the Alice cold case. Diana offers some insight Kate hadn't thought of. Something about their timeline together as a couple?? Reminds her that two significant things happened in that old apartment, which is why there are two separate symbols there? 1. The place where Diana broke enough the Perfect left her. 2. The place where Oscar the Cactus was smashed, prompting the name of their first born. Ie. two places significant only to them in K20v3.

Kate shows her a picture of the symbol. Diana tells her there's something she and Donna aren't considering with Hecate's moons. That it's not a set of three moons, it's a set of four. A waxing moon, a full moon, and waning moon, and a new moon, the moon that isn't seen.

Kate: What do you mean? What does -that- mean?  
Diana: It means that there is something happening here that is not evident. 

Significance of the new moon revelation: There is a player here that isn't seen, someone important orchestrating things from the shadows. First obvious choice: Circe. Second less obvious character to set up. The upside down man? Hecate? Gabriel?

A revisit to the diner from To Come Up Breathing. Some questions from the girls about the significance of this place, which leads to questions about this first “date” that was had here. Lucy and Mac still alive. Somehow. Does Lucy say something this time? Something about long time no see, Wonder Woman or nice t'meetcha Wonder Mini (Oscar). TBD. 

Of all the nights, Alice makes her first appearance in years on this night. Chapter ends with “the family” watching as Hecate's moons is etched on the table where they sit out of thin air, which means at this very moment, Alice is burning it into the table in the original universe. 

-

The rest isn't broken down by chapter per se. A lot of moving pieces and minor character subplots floating about means I didn't want to lock chapters down too far ahead. Anything is subject to change and a lot with Donna, Alice, and Artemis and how they would play out hadn't been pinned down yet.  
The barebones of the story that isn't subject to change is as follows: 

**1.** The first time Diana met Beth, Alice was in control. One hug from Diana ousted Alice from control and brought forth Beth.  
-this version of Alice and Beth: Alice is a personality who perceives her job as protecting Beth, which is why she wants control. She became a personality after Circe's meddling and took up the name Alice since Beth had already used it. Seemed to fit.  
-Diana can crush Alice's control. Diana must go. 

**2.** Alice has contacted Gabriel in secret some time before she and Kate reunite with Diana and Oscar. “' your aunt, let me tell you about your family” kind of thing. “This is who you're named after.” At some point, Circe explains the multiverse and that she and Oscar really weren't meant to be because Kate and Diana weren't meant to be. Gabriel will appear to betray Kate and Diana later in an attempt to end this world bring everyone back. Gabriel and Oscar will ultimately end up in a battle against each other.

Gabriel: We shouldn't exist! We're just lies!  
Oscar: SO WHAT?! So what if we are?!

 **4.** Diana is not from this universe. She was actually lifted from the canonical universe and transplanted her (the switch occurring after Infinite Crisis when Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman take a year off superheroing. Through Moments was to establish that it is -after- Infinite Crisis and the end of Kate and Renee's relationship that Kate was finally not dating someone).

 **5.** Circe ultimately plans to make Diana choose. A fake world full of happiness, a prospering Themyscira, smoother Bana relations, and a family or the universe that's supposed to be but one she doesn't know anything about because she's been here, in this fake world, for decades. Which truth is more important? Can a fabricated world even be considered true?

 **6.** Because Kate understands how Diana sees truth and because Kate understands that there is a whole universe out there who doesn't have their Wonder Woman, Kate makes the choice for her. Because, as Diana learns, there are some things about people you cannot change. Kate will always make the choice that preserves Diana (or anyone she loves, perhaps) and sacrifices herself. But I think I'm leaning toward Gabriel making this choice instead, somehow forcing it. Or, maybe Diana actually does make the choice. Whoever is responsible depends largely on how the interpersonal relationships played out through all the chapters leading up to this moment. Anyway, some really emotional goodbyes amongst Diana, Kate, Gabriel, and Oscar in the small time they have before the world ends. 

**7.** The result is that Diana wakes up in the universe that is cannon in a relationship with Steve Trevor (at the time this story was conceived, they were still dating), but with all the memories from K20v3. Diana also has all the memories of the canon universe a well, so she's not unhappy with this. She might even be confused about what Circe tried to accomplish. Circe's story arc was to get her to understand and accepts that Diana will always be and will always be a threat if she does exist, but that they can coexist (I'm sorry I couldn't detail the emotional journey she takes to get to that point here). In the last chapter, she'll meet Kate/Batwoman for the first time in this universe, and will have to suppress everything she feels. Kate's story assumes she's still where she left off in Batwoman Rebirth. Kate is in a relationship with Renee and is happy. So, in a moment that is supposed to echo all the moments in Through Moments in Time when they separated, Diana watches Kate walk off with someone else, but this time she has her own person she's walking off with too, and it's all a great big emotional mess that's sort of sweet but really sort of not. Because, everyone's happy, right? But Diana can remember a possibility where she had a different happiness and two little girls named Oscar and Gabriel. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NEXT: A properly written, prose epilogue. No, seriously, really.


	5. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ugh.

It's a few minutes after noon when the sun is the brightest in Boston's sky. Diana is sitting at a small sidewalk table outside a locally owned coffee shop, enjoying a warm cup of chai tea. Beside her cup, is a coffee, strong and black. Diana has placed the saucer over the top to trap the heat. The last few months have been busy and this is the first time she has allowed herself more than ten minutes to set all the Wonder Woman business aside and sit still. She is reading a few documents on her phone while she sips her tea and waits. 

She knows exactly when the person she is waiting for arrives. She doesn't even have to look up. It's a feeling deep inside, lazily waking up from long slumber. The metal chair on the opposite side of the table screeches loud against the cement and Kate Kane takes a seat. 

Diana glances up, pressing the side button on her phone to lock the screen. She flips it upside on the table and offers a smile that Kate returns. Then she lifts the coffee mug and sets it in front of Kate. 

“I took the liberty of ordering.”

“Thank you,” Kate says, accepting the mug. She removes the saucer and seems surprised. “How'd you know I drink it black?” 

Diana sips her tea. “Educated guess.” 

“Right.” Kate rights the mug on the saucer now. “I appreciate you agreeing to meet me.” 

“ I could hardly ignore such a formal request. And through official channels from a certain messenger, none the less,” Diana says. “How did you convince him to play go-between for you?” 

“I didn’t. I asked Selena. Ever consider your own Wonder spotlight I can just switch on and beckon you at will?”

“I haven’t, but I’ll be sure to give it some thought. Now I’m eager to hear what is so important considering the lengths you went through to contact me.” 

Kate shrugs now and Diana can see that something is bothering her, that it has been bothering her for some time now. It raises a small concern inside, but she waits instead for Kate to speak.

“It’s nothing like end-of-the-world important.” 

“But still important enough for such measures.” 

“True.” Kate nods, pondering. Then she straightens in her chair and moves the mug and saucer aside to place her elbows on the table. “Okay. Look, this is going to sound crazy no matter how I slice it and believe me, I’ve worked it through every angle I could think up, so I’m just going to come out and say it.”

“I'm listening.” 

“There’s something between us.”

Diana holds her breath, pausing. She watches Kate for a second longer and then carefully says, “You feel something between us?”

A faint tint of pink touches Kate's pale features and she raises her hand and shakes her head, rushing to clear any misunderstanding. It's a little nostalgic for Diana. It was another life the last time she saw Kate flustered because of her and never in this one. 

“No, not like that. I mean, like.. wait. Let me start over.” Kate stops, composes herself. “Sometimes I feel something. Not an emotion, but almost like it, something that isn’t mine. And then I’ll hear about something or see something on the news about you that kind of, I don’t know, explains it or relieves it or makes it feel better.”

Diana is nodding as she listens and when Kate stops, she gently prods.

“For example?” 

Kate's eyebrows furrow in thought. She is a little frustrated and it's clear she is aware of how crazy this sounds. Her hands gesture as she rambles, unsure how to articulate exactly what she's been experiencing.

“For example... a couple weeks ago, I was hit with a strong paranoia. Out of the blue. I know for sure there was nothing in my life that would cause that. It’s like it wasn’t mine. And then I saw the news about what happened in your apartment building and all that crazy app business and it made sense. Except it didn’t make sense.” 

Now Kate's hands stop and then slowly fall until they rest on the table once more. She sighs. It's unsettling for Diana to see Kate so uncertain. It isn't like her. The Kate she knows, the Kate she loved, still loves really, was always certain, at least whenever she opened her mouth to speak. 

Kate says, “It’s like everything in my body but my brain knew ‘oh that’s it. But she’s okay’ and relaxed but I still don’t understand why. And that’s happened frequently over and over. I can’t explain it, but I know it’s not normal.”

“No, that doesn’t sound normal. Can you give me a few more examples?”

“I felt like I was dying a few months ago, some of the worst pain I ever felt. Then I heard you had to hop back home for intensive healing after some mission in Brazil. I spontaneously began crying last year. Then I heard you and Trevor split. Just... just so many things. You probably think I'm crazy. Hell, I think I think I'm crazy, but I just need to put this to rest.”

Diana sighs now and sits up straighter in her chair to face her. It is now time for her to say a secret she has carried by herself for a while now and she is not sure how saying it will change either of their lives.

“You’re not crazy, Kate,” she says. “It seems I have been sending my emotions out in times of heightened stress.” 

“And you’re saying, what? That I’ve been receiving it?” Kate asks after a beat of thought. “That doesn’t even make any sense. Why would I even be receiving it in the first place?” 

“That’s difficult to explain.” 

“But you can explain it.” The way Kate holds in her in a fixed gaze makes a bubble of recognition bloom inside her. “You know what this is, don’t you?” 

Diana hesitates. There's so much she wants to say, to share with someone else, but to be able to share with Kate specifically, is too hard a temptation. For a few brief seconds, she entertains fantasies of life that once was, fantasies that maybe it can be again. Then Kate’s phone rings. 

“Sorry. One second. It’s Renee.”

The fantasies dissipate in the open air. Well, they were mere fantasies, after all. Diana forces a smile. 

“Tell her I said hello.”

Kate steps a few paces away and connects the call, placing the phone to her ear. 

“Yeah, no problem. You do what you need to do. Sure, that sounds great. Diana says hello, by the way. I don’t know why, because you're easily wooed and she's a charmer?” 

Flashes of a Gotham rooftop come to Diana's mind and she remembers how Batwoman theatrically pressed a hand to her chest and told her to wait with a finger. Kate's laugh floats on the small breeze and brings her out of these memories.

“Pick your jaw up off the ground, Ray. You know I’m right. All right, babe. I’ll do that. Love you too.” 

Diana sips her tea once more and wait while Kate sits back down. She drops her phone on the table and drags her cup back in front of her.

“Sorry about that,” she says, taking a sip.

“It’s all right,” Diana says. “How is Renee?”

“She's doing well. Adjusting to the new commish, like everyone else.”

“Everything seems to be going well with you two. I’m glad.”

“Yeah. Surprisingly. My track record for relationships could use a win honestly, but you didn’t need to know that.”

“You and I both, Kate,” Diana says with a small smile.

Kate catches the unspoken sentiment and studies Diana over the lip of her steadily cooling coffee. Diana knows that look, but they have not developed a decent enough relationship in this life yet for her to comment on it, so she doesn't. 

“So,” Kate finally says, choosing to file away her observation. “You were about to give me a difficult explanation that will sound as crazy as the one I just gave you, right? All right. I’m ready. And, go.”

It makes Diana chuckle softly and she sips her chai in thought. A small light feeling akin to joy flutters inside her. Despite the fear of how this might change everything for them, she can't ignore how nice it feels to say what she is about to say out loud and to Kate of all of people. She hadn't known how heavy this secret had been for her until this moment. She draws in a small breath and lets it out evenly and then, she simply says it. 

“You and I are bonded, Kate Kane.”

Kate blinks. 

“I’m sorry, what now?” 

“In another life that no longer exists, we were pair bonded,” Diana says, because there is no other way to say this then plainly. “We chose to be connected through eternity to find our place next to each other in the Elysian Fields.” 

Kate lets out a stilted laugh now, still dumbfounded. Whatever she'd prepared herself to hear when she requested this meeting, Diana knows for sure this was not it. Kate doesn't know what to say it seems, so she does what she always does in this situation. She jokes. 

“Well, that sounds awfully romantic.” 

Diana gives a long nod and sips her chai once more. She licks her lips.

“Yes, it was.” 

At this a long silence settles on the table between them served on a platter of awkwardness. For once, Kate says nothing. It would be humorous for Diana if it didn't wrench her heart so badly. She dares to look at Kate who is only gazing at her with an expression she cannot read.

“Are you all right?” Diana asks her. 

“Yep... fine. Just fine.” Kate nods. “As fine as one can be considering I’ve just been told I’m forever kinda-but-not bonded to the most eligible bachelorette in the universe. How long have you known this?”

“Too long.” 

“And you’re just telling me this now?” 

“It’s only just started to interrupt your life now.”

“This is...” Kate falters, grasping for words. 

“A lot, I know.”

“Is this why you split with Trevor?”

The question takes Diana by surprise and her heart gives another dull ache, separate from the one it gives for Kate. She quietly shakes her head

“No,” she says. “That was another matter entirely.” 

Another moment of silence passes and what Diana has said finally sinks in. Kate's eyes flare open and she stares at Diana in a mixture of surprise and a near horror someone other than Diana might have found offensive. 

“Oh my god. What? Why?” Kate says, verbalizing as she processes. “What other life? You remember another life? Where we – you and me – consciously decided together that bonding to each other romantically was a good idea?” I mean, you remember that?” 

“Yes, I remember it very well,” Diana says coolly, processing her own bit of hurt at Kate's reaction to this. “Vividly, sometimes.”

Kate's hand comes to cover her mouth and she sits very still, staring. She is shaking her head lightly in disbelief. Her hand slides further down to her chin and draws in a deep breath.

“Okay,” she says with a nod. “How did this happen?” 

Diana is at a loss for words now. She had expected Kate to be surprised, but she hadn't expected this level of disbelief. Was it really so unfathomable to her? It puts some of her memories of that life into a different perspective for her. Without any outside interference, Kate would never have considered her a romantic possibility? It's a terribly lonely thought Diana finds herself struggling with.

“I don’t know what to tell you, Kate. In that life, we were more than lovers. We were...” An unexpected swell of emotion rises in Diana's throat and she has to swallow it down. This is much harder than she thought this would be. “We were what people become when they’ve fought together against all odds, when they can express that connection with each other in all ways, physically and emotionally. Whatever term you feel comfortable labeling it, that's what we were. We wanted to always find each other somehow in all lives that followed.” 

Kate frowns and then lowers her head to cradle her forehead in her open hands. Diana doesn't really know what reaction she was hoping for, but she knows this is not it. 

“I’m gonna need a minute.” 

“I understand. Take your time.” 

With her head still down, Kate says, “I can't imagine sleeping with you, but now, I can't un-imagine it either.” 

The comment makes Diana laugh, despite herself. This woman. She's almost forgotten how much she enjoys her candid reactions, but she's never managed to scandalous Kate quite like this before. Diana finds it utterly endearing. No wonder Kate enjoys doing this so much to her. The laugh forces the unshed tears from the earlier swell of emotions to brim at the corner of her eyes. She wipes them away quickly when they fall before Kate can see them. 

“Before you ask, Kate, the answer is yes, it was good. Very good,” she says. “We are very compatible in that regard.” 

Kate's face shoots up to look at her and Diana looks back, conscious not to be the one to break the eye contact. It's Kate who looks away first, bringing her forehead back to her palm.

“Oh god, you mean in the sack. You're seriously telling me we're compatible in the sack.” 

It makes Diana laugh again. She takes a few more casual sips and gives Kate the time she needs to recover. Kate straightens up and lifts a hand to halt the conversation while she regains her composure.

“Okay,” she says now. “Skipping over all details – _all_ the details– of lives that don't exist, this bond is making me, what, feel what you’re feeling?”

“In short, yes.”

“I'm not sure what to think here. I'm not sure how to explain any of this to Renee.” 

Diana watches Kate for a moment, recognizing the small look of worry in her eye, the look that always told her Kate needed to talk to her about something she felt guilty about. It tugs on something inside her, but she quells the emotion too late. Kate glances at her and Diana knows Kate felt her nostalgic longing through the bond. A little part of her is embarrassed. 

Part of her doesn't want to say what she has to say next. This was the exact reason they had decided to bond together, wasn't it? To always find each other like this? The bond did it's job. They've found each other. It didn't necessarily mean, however, that they would choose to stay together. Diana clears her throat. 

“Now that it’s affecting your life too,” she says now, carefully. “We have the option of doing something about it.” 

“Yeah?” Kate lets out a funny dry laugh, but gives Diana all of her attention. “Like what?”

Diana says, evenly, “We can ask the gods to break the bond.”

“How would we go about doing that?” Kate replies, cognizant that it was difficult for Diana to say that but clearly uncertain as to why.

“You will have to come with me to Themyscira. It will have to be a formal request we ask together,” Diana tells her. “We almost didn't make it through the trial assigned us to be bonded. I imagine it will be even more difficult to break it.”

Kate watches her in the way she does when she's picked up on something she wants to ask about, but isn't sure if she should. No matter what Kate wants to do, Diana now understands that she will be explaining the trial, that life and the family they'd had in that life to her one way or another and she will have to explain how it all ended. 

She is a little too grateful for the way Kate shrugs now, shelving all her unasked questions for later. 

“Do we have any other option?” Kate asks. 

“It's either that or live the rest of our lives and all others to come continually interfering with each other’s lives, intentionally or not,” Diana tells her. 

Kate only nods and then draws in a breath.

“Okay, noted. There’s no helping it then. How do I book us a flight to Themyscira?”

At this, Diana offers a small, saddened smile. She allows herself a moment to grieve. This is what Kate has decided. She squares her shoulders. So be it. 

“Leave all of that to me, Kate.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, but wait. Let me explain. 
> 
> This is either a sad end to an unlikely ship to maintain the status quo OR the beginning of a companion story to Courtship wrought with sexual tension, complicated relationship issues, a million reactions from Kate ("We had a kid?! TWO? Wait, I challenged -you-?!") and a happy end despite it all (even for Renee, because she has the super cute blonde girlfriend now).
> 
> I'm gonna leave this little epilogue here for you to decide. Mostly because it'll never be shared if I don't post it now.


End file.
